You Can’t Do That, and its incredible recording process revealed here and now.

Having just returned to London on February 22nd, 1964, from their triumphant first visit to America, The Beatles had a very busy schedule ahead of them. Their first motion picture, untitled at this time, was due to begin shooting on March 2nd, and songs for the film needed to be fully recorded before the movie could be started. The seven-song requirement meant they had to get cracking right away, so after filming a television appearance on February 23rd, they headed to EMI studio two on February 25th ready for work.

There were two recording sessions on February 25th (George Harrison's 21st birthday), the first running from 10 am to 1 pm, which was devoted entirely to the month old “You Can’t Do That.” The band played the song live on mostly newly acquired instruments: John's brand-new Rickenbacker 325 designed especially for him, George's new Rickenbacker 360-12 string guitar, and Ringo's second Ludwig drum kit (Paul's 1963 Hofner bass had been in use in the studio since "I Want To Hold Your Hand"). John also sang lead vocals live along with the instruments. Four complete takes were taped, along with five false starts, before everyone was satisfied. One of the complete takes (take 6) can be heard on “Anthology 1” which shows John as the only one singing at this point. This is not a “guide vocal” as authors claim, but their usual practice of getting a perfect recording live.

A decision was made to include backing vocals from Paul and George, so by take nine, which ended up being the keeper, all three vocalists were singing live on this basic recording. Onto this they performed three overdubs; Paul playing the cowbell throughout the song, Ringo playing the bongos, and finally John double-tracking his vocals during the bridges. This then was used as the finished master version of the song.

George Martin wasted no time in creating the mono mix for the song. The next day, February 26th, Martin and engineers Norman Smith and Richard Langham reserved a morning session (10 am to 1 pm) to perfect the mono mix of “You Can’t Do That” and “Can’t Buy Me Love,” which were dutifully shipped off to Capitol Records in the US for their next single release. George Martin held off Capitol releasing “Roll Over Beethoven” as the next American single with promises of something great, so he didn’t waste any time getting these new masters sent to Capitol as soon as possible. It took four remix attempts at “You Can’t Do That” to get it right, but it thereafter served as the mono mix heard everywhere to this day.

March 10th saw George Martin and Norman Smith for some unknown reason performing a stereo mix of the song (along with six other mixes) that was experimental and never used. Also, interestingly, George Martin entered the studio on May 22nd, well after the British and American release of the song as a single, to record a piano overdub, which took the song to “take 10.” What his intentions were are unknown, but this overdub was shelved and never heard by the public.

At the last minute as usual, George Martin oversaw the true stereo mix of the song on June 22nd, 1964, using “take 9” so as to forgo the piano overdub done on May 22nd. This was done just in time for the British album release of “A Hard Day’s Night” on July 10th, and was the only stereo mix of the song released, but not yet in America. Since “You Can’t Do That” was featured on the US album “The Beatles’ Second Album,” and only a mono mix existed at that time of its release (April 10th, 1964), Capitol Records created a duophonic (fake stereo) version of the song for the stereo master of the album. The true stereo mix, however, contains the rhythm track (drums, bass and George's guitar) mostly in the left channel with John's rhythm guitar and solo mostly in the right channel. All the vocals are centered in the mix.

Another recording of the song came to be on August 23rd, 1964, at The Beatles’ live performance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California.  Capitol Records desired to record the group live for release as a US-only album, since George Martin vetoed the idea for the British market. It was reluctantly co-produced by George Martin and American producer Voyle Gilmore with Hugh Davies as engineer. The album didn’t get released at the time because of the disapproval of The Beatles and Capitol Records due to the poor quality of the recording. Although a revamped version of the album did get released internationally in 1977 as “The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl,” the song “You Can’t Do That” was cut from the track list and is in the vaults somewhere collecting dust.

The Beatles did revive the song briefly in the studio during their infamous “Get Back/Let It Be” sessions. The second day of taped rehearsals in Twickenham Studios on January 3rd, 1969, saw The Beatles go over the song again after nearly four and a half years of it not being touched.

Sometime in 2016, Giles Martin, George's son, acquired access to the live recording of "You Can't Do That" that the group performed at the Hollywood Bowl on August 23rd, 1964. From this, he produced a magnificent version of the song to be used as a bonus track on the long-awaited re-release of "Live At The Hollywood Bowl."

Song Structure and Style

“You Can’t Do That” follows a typical 12-bar blues pattern for the verses with an eight-measure bridge formed in a verse/verse/bridge/verse (or aaba) structure typical for early Lennon / McCartney compositions. A guitar solo section is included following the verse structure, followed by an additional bridge and verse before the song closes.

We start out with a four-measure introduction which introduces the landmark “two measure guitar riff” in the first two measures. The same riff is then repeated for the remaining two measures of the introduction joined by the rest of the band, cowbell and bongos included.

We then enter into the first 12 measure verse, highlighted by a melody line emphasizing the quarter notes of the measures. Lennon’s voice is single-tracked, which suits the intimate address of the lyrics perfectly. The surprise twist of the verse structure comes on the ninth measure which shows all instruments and vocals performing staccato eighth notes on the phrase “told you before” on the D chord. This is followed by the signature “break” used in a lot of the early Beatles songs, but this time only lasts for a solitary eighth note before the drums kick back in followed by the vocals, which highlight the key phrase of the song, “Oh, you can’t do that” on the tenth measure. The twelfth measure takes us back to the D chord, which is a perfect segue into another verse.

The second verse contains some subtle but interesting changes, one being the melody line now focusing on eighth notes instead of quarter notes. The second change is the appearance of answering backing vocals from Paul and George starting from the sixth measure. The verse ends identically as the first did except for staying on the G chord to propel them into the bridge.

The unpredictable chord changes in this eight-measure bridge snake along with the bluesy melody line and background vocals to generate an engaging vibe. The seventh and eighth measure display the jabbing staccato eighth notes heard in the verses, which move the song nicely back to the third and final verse of the pattern.

This third verse has a completely different set of lyrics, unlike The Beatles' tendency to just repeat the first verse again (witness “Please Please Me” and “From Me To You”). This verse needed to be different in order to show the finality of the story with a pleading “so please listen to me if you want to stay mine.” John Lennon was truly proud of this song and it shows; no cutting-corners for this one.

This third verse reverts back to ending in a D chord to segue into the solo section of the song, which is performed over the complete set of verse chords. Lennon himself steps out for the first time on record playing lead guitar, creating tension while the background vocals chant along the title of the song. 

Then we hear a reprise of the bridge and third verse as it ends with a surprising but suitably subdued ending in lead guitar/bass unison. John was quite proud of the conclusion to this song. "The break at the end of the record? That's George with his 12-string doing that bit,” Lennon stated at the time. "Isn't it a great sound? Like a piano."

"You Can't Do That" is a remarkably heavy performance unmatched by anything The Beatles had produced thus far, but standing as a harbinger of heavier things to come.

As stated earlier, the lyrics are frank and autobiographical in nature, expressing to the world the insecurities the composer lives with and the struggles of those he’s closest too. He does not express these feelings in an apologetic way, but aggressively and in a justifiably demanding way. His girl is not allowed to be caught even innocently “talking” to another “boy” if she doesn’t want to be ‘let down’ and ‘left flat.’ He goes as far as saying that he thinks “it’s a sin” and is, in effect, the last straw.

Lennon uses the bridge to justify his demand by explaining that “everybody’s green” with envy about him winning her in the first place. Therefore, he fears being laughed at by onlookers if the appearance shows she might be interested in someone else. This insecurity has taken hold of him to the point of saying, in the final verse, “I can’t help my feelings” and that they are driving him ‘out of his mind.’ As revealed in various biographies of his life, the demanding ways Lennon showed in his relationships with the women of his life, Yoko included, attest to this song being a true-to-life testimony of what he expected of them. In hindsight, Paul himself recognized this to be true.

Lennon definitely shines on this track, especially as lead guitarist. “I find it a drag to play rhythm all the time,” Lennon explained in 1964, “so I always work myself out something interesting to play. The best example I can think of is like I did on ‘You Can’t Do That’…I like playing lead sometimes, so I do it.” John hammers out a wiry solo, which incorporates elements of rhythm guitar, to produce something George Harrison wouldn’t have been able to devise. John nails it vocally as well, performing a rough but convincing bluesy growl deserving of being the standout vocal track on the album.

Paul and George’s background harmonies are more shouted than sung, but it works to create the rough energy that is necessitated by the lyrics. George Harrison's new 12-string is heard prominently in the main riff of the song, which is performed to perfection. He otherwise may have been relegated to rhythm guitar on this track, but it is played with great attentiveness to the feel of the song, which can also be said of McCartney’s bass work, although it is quite low in the mix.  Ringo rides primarily on the hi-hat throughout while not providing any variance from his rock beat apart from his accents at the end of each verse. The Beatles as a whole produce an unpolished masterpiece.

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